The latest version of Descript is here, and it includes support for Big Sur, performance improvements, and some great new features that will make editing projects and correcting transcripts even easier than before.

Big Sur and performance improvements

Descript now supports macOS Big Sur. We added Big Sur support by finishing work on an all-new video rendering engine, which means video playback and export is much snappier and faster than before.

For now, this new rendering engine is limited to Mac, but will come to Windows early in 2021.

We’ve also made substantial performance improvements to longer Compositions (think one-hour plus). Performance improvements are a major priority for Descript, and if you’re experiencing performance issues, we invite you to join our Discord server and share examples with us.

Transcription glossary

One of our most requested features has arrived. Now you can add proper nouns — like Descript! — and other tricky words Descript has trouble with to a transcription glossary. Once you add a word to the transcription glossary, it’ll show up across all your Projects on that Drive. To access and update the transcription glossary, click the arrow next to your Project’s name.

The transcription glossary doesn’t currently work with live transcription, but you can expect that functionality next year.

Punctuation and capitalization correction while editing

Descript now automatically corrects punctuation and capitalization while editing media. Previously, this functionality was limited to transcript correction, but now you’ll notice it while editing Projects, too.

It comes in really handy when you’re batch removing filler words. Try it!

Search improvements

We’ve improved our search functionality and unlocked exciting new workflows in the process.

First, you can now search Compositions by highlight color.

Second is Spot Audition, which allows you to automatically play your current search result as you cycle through them.

These features pair well together. For example, you could listen back to your transcript, highlight certain sections that need review or focus on a particular theme in real time, and then later search for those highlights to correct or revisit those sections.

Manual text-audio alignment correction

Sometimes Descript makes mistakes aligning text and audio in the timeline. You can now fix these mistakes manually by zooming in on the wordbar, holding the Cmd/Ctrl key, and dragging to fix the word boundary.

Auto-leveling preference

Another one of our most-requested features, you can now choose to enable or disable Project-level auto-leveling in Descript’s app preferences.

Export cancellation

And another: You can now cancel file exports.

As always, you can discover additional tweaks and fixes in our changelog. Have a safe and happy holiday, and keep an eye out for more exciting updates coming in 2021. See you next year!